Ghostly Awakening

Rating: 4🌈There’s so many books written about paranormal characters that talk to ghosts along with a law enforcement element or partner that helps with solving mysteries/murders that’s it should be its own trope. It’s a marvelously creative framework. Over and over, by various authors, it’s been threaded, twisted and tweaked to fit their particular personal narrative takes on this theme to wonderful effect.Such variety makes it a great thrill to explore new stories in the same lane by new authors when I run across them. Like this one.Ghostly Awakening (Ghostly Book 1) by E.M. Leya is the first in her new series. It’s a slow burn, paranormal romance that involves murder mysteries and of course, a detective and a man, in this case, a assistant medical examiner, who talks to ghosts.I enjoyed reading this story. The characters are interesting and layered, with good dialogue and the right balance of quirky family dynamics and vagueness of solid foundation that will allow them to grow in future stories. Unlike other books, these aren’t tragic, haunted men. Instead, both Angus, the detective, and Lance, the assistant ME, are people who have the normal reactions and emotions you’d expect from people in their professions and with their experiences.Except Lance starts to see ghosts. It’s a new thing for him and I’ll leave that part of the story to the book.The ghosts are great. Leya has created a foundation for them , religious based, and spiritually oriented. FYI I’m not a religious person so this isn’t a sticking issue for me. Heaven or another plain . You decide. I liked her ghosts a lot. Big personalities and small.The murders, while gruesome, all have already occurred and happen off page. The mystery is solved through ghostly events and hard work.The romance is molasses slow and the book ends and the relationship is getting started. Everything about this makes me want more. And I’m heading to the next book quickly.I’m recommending this for all lovers of this genre and fans of the author.Ghostly series:- [x] Ghostly Awakening #1- [ ] Ghostly Findings #2- [ ] Ghostly Envy #3

Really, really enjoyed this. I'm not sure that I would've come across this series on my own but I'm very glad it was recommended. I liked both Lance and Angus from the get go. I did feel bad for Lance getting blindsided seeing his first ghost though. I did like how Angus swooped in with his mom to help. His mom is a hoot. I love that a relationship between Lance and Angus isn't being forced. Things are progressing at a nice slow pace. I know that things will eventually heat up between them but I'm loving the way it's playing out.The mystery itself was very good. I managed to freak myself out by reading this alone in the dark. It's not a great idea to walk around your pitch black house after reading about women being attacked in theirs. I did have a ghost of an idea of who was responsible. Not exactly but I was definitely on the right track.

Actually, it’s more like the slowest of slight warmth. No burn to be found here. I’m not even sure you can classify this as a romance. I definitely rounded up to three stars because the murder case was slightly interesting, but my enjoyment was near a two at the end. Usually 2 star books to me are dreadful writing or something seriously wrong. This was just increasingly meh. It’s like the author found a way to make boring anything that could have been slightly interesting. I’m honestly shocked this isn’t the author’s first book.The main character wakes from an accident to find he can now see ghosts. And he’s a medical examiner, so that should be interesting, too right? Well, I can’t even count the number of times both MCs stated they can never let anyone know that ghosts exist or their entire lives would be ruined. Blah blah. I’ve read several MM romance books that involve a medium or someone who can suddenly see ghosts. Some of the most interesting parts of the book happen because other people find out about this! So there’s zero conflict. No one thinks that they are strange or distrusts them because no one knows.Throughout the book, Angus (the detective) and Lance (the medical examiner) work closely together, if always off the clock, because angus knows lance sees ghosts and can tell him info about the victims. But, now this is going to sound weird, but it was all a little too real. In most romances, the author would find a way to have Lance at every crime scene. But this author chooses to keep the MCs very professional and that means separate. (Yawn, boring)I read some of the other reviews and had to laugh at one review saying they wished the romance was more of a slow burn. Ha! If it were any slower they’d actually be dead. There’s some very mild flirting and that’s about all. They both internally agonize about keeping things professional. I guess if you want any romance you’d have to read the next book. But since there wasn’t any romance, do I really want to read the next book?Everything about it was just so vanilla. Lance and Angus are just fine, but comparing it to similar books this is the least interesting ghost-seeing MC I’ve ever read. These are just two normal dudes. No quirkiness at all.

It is a good start to a new series. I liked that there are several characters introduced, not just all about the two MC. I liked that the seeing ghosts was a little different and opened up more than just crime solving possibilities and that it is a learning process. The main characters were nice and their relationship wasn’t completely insta-love and was developing over some time and not all completely in his book. I am not sure about the mystery; it maybe needs more evidence support rather than the shaky “confession”. It was nice that other aspects of their lives were involved to try and round out the characters. I wasn’t as thrilled by piling on with the tropes by making Angus a big muscular tattooed biker in addition to being a cop and all the repeated sexual innuendos regarding the bike. I’m rounding up and grading on a curve.

Ghostly Awakening is a wonderful start to the Ghostly series. I've never heard of E.M Leya before but if her other books are as good as this one, I'm in for a real treat!! Ghostly Awakening is chock full of amazing characters including the ghostly variety. Absolutely loved it.

I really enjoyed this book the case was intresting and wasn't predictable. I really love the main characters Lance and Angus both men are great guys who care about others including the dead. The romance that starts I really enjoyed it was slow going but also seemed natural.I will be continuing with the series.

Yay! Another series for me to look forward to. After a serious accident Lance who’s a medical examiner is knocked sideways when he sees a guy in his examination room. The man’s name is Earl and after arguing with the him because Earl insists he’s a ghost and that his wife murdered him, Lance thinks he’s loosing his mind, but when he pulls out the body waiting to be examined he comes face to face with good old Earl. Angus the detective who’s assigned to the case is in the viewing room watching the autopsy and sees Lance argue with thin air and realises that he’s talking to a ghost because Angus’s mother also has that ability. Angus decides to come to Lance’s rescue and explain that he’s not losing his mind and that it is a gift to be treasured the same as Angus’s mother does. The two become thick friends and Lance begins to help Angus try and find the person who’s killing and raping women. Brilliant story that you can get into from the very first page